Ecosystem accounting and the cost of biodiversity losses — the case of coastal Mediterranean wetlands

This report focuses on ways we can use land and
ecosystem accounting techniques to describe and
monitor the consequences of biodiversity loss in
the coastal wetlands of the Mediterranean. These
ecosystems are characterised by the close coupling of
economic, social and ecological processes, and any
accounting system has to represent how these key
elements are linked and change over time. This report
discusses the importance of estimating the ecological
and social costs of maintaining these systems, and the
problems surrounding providing monetary estimates
of the services associated with wetlands. It also shows
how individual wetland socio-ecological systems (SES)
can be defined and mapped using the remotely sensed
land cover information from Corine Land Cover.